In recent years, a curtain airbag apparatus has been developed, which unfolds a curtain-shaped airbag (hereinafter referred to as curtain airbag) between a passenger and a vehicle body side portion to protect the passenger at the time of a side collision or the like of a vehicle.
This curtain airbag apparatus is attached such that the curtain airbag is folded in the front-rear direction of the vehicle body along a vehicle interior side portion of a side panel that constitutes a portion of a door opening of the vehicle body. In this curtain airbag apparatus, in a normal state (when the curtain airbag is not unfolded), the lower side of the curtain airbag is covered with a terminal portion of roof lining that is a skin material on a vehicle interior side. When an impact caused by collision or the like is input to the vehicle body, the curtain airbag is unfolded downward from the roof side portion by injecting high-pressure gas (inflating gas) using an inflator, to form a passenger protective wall between the passenger and the vehicle body side portion.
Incidentally, a grab rail gripped by a passenger is attached to the roof side portion within the vehicle interior. In a vehicle equipped with the aforementioned curtain airbag apparatus, the grab rail should be disposed so as to avoid interference with the curtain airbag.
In an attachment structure of the grab rail in the related art, a bracket is fixed to a perpendicular wall portion disposed to be flush with the opening surface of the door opening in the above side panel. The bracket is configured such that an arm section projects inward in the vehicle width direction from a vehicle body attachment seat section fixed to the above perpendicular wall portion, and a grab rail attachment seat section is provided at a front end portion of the arm section. The grab rail is attached to the grab rail attachment seat section of this bracket. The curtain airbag is disposed such that the airbag is folded below the arm section of the above bracket (for example, refer to Patent Documents 1 and 2).